Monday, 11 July 2016

Ways in which Brexit will help the environment

‘Always look on the bright side of life’. That was a theme
associated with the ‘Life of Brian’ (as is strife within the popular fronts of
the Labour Party these days of course, but I won’t go into that now). So what’s
good about Brexit? Well, it might be a crushing blow to our British economy and
environmental laws, but in other ways it might actually help.....

One
way Brexit will definitely help is that the green interest groups will find it
easier to get their way on various environmental issues in EU institutions. The
UK won’t be around to perform their usual watering-down role! Take the issue of
air pollution. The UK has been an opponent of tightening up EU air pollution
regulations. As the Guardian reported on June 3rd this year; ‘EU
states have agreed to water down a proposed law aimed at halving the number of
deaths fromair pollutionwithin 15 years, after intense
lobbying from the UK that cross-party MEPs have condemned as “appalling”......Some
14,000 people will die prematurely every year across Europe from 2030 as a
result, if the weakened proposal is implemented, according to figurescited by the environment commissioner, Karmenu Vella.’

Then
there is the issue of chemicals which scientists say are killing bees. The EU
banned farmers using neocontinoids in 2014, and bees are said now to be
recovering, but the UK dragged its feet at first allowing the NFU to use the chemicals in 2015. In the USA the chemicals
are still used widely and bee numbers are declining. In the UK the number of bees declined by 15 per cent in 2015 according to the Beekeepers Association, continuing a trend that has set in for
many years.

Under
pressure from the NFU the Government has allowed farmers to carry on using
these chemicals. Of course, once more over the cliff, our British lemming
friends must go!

Then
there is the issue of renewable energy targets. The UK, under great pressure,
accepted the 2009 EU Renewable target which was set as a mandatory commitment
for 2020. We’re now set to get 30 per cent of our electricity from renewable
energy by 2020, even if we haven’t met our target from energy as a whole. However
the UK Government has strongly resisted a further rigorous target for 2030.
Clearly, without the UK, the EU could set a stronger renewable energy and
energy efficiency ambition!

Moreover, anti-nuclear greens may be cheered by news that Chinese investors in Hinkley C are spooked by financial instability in the UK and the declining value of the £ making it even less likely that the Hinkley C nuclear power development will go ahead ahead.

Now,
think about it, under Brexit, the UK will have a bad environment. But at least
it will be better in the rest of the EU! Progress in implementing a range of
environmental initiatives in the EU will be a lot smoother and more effective!
Indeed, if by some miracle the UK does remain inside the internal market, the
UK will have to obey the EU environmental laws anyway, but won’t be able to
have any say in making them! Ideal, you could say!

But
there is one pretty sure way in which the environment is likely to benefit from Brexit, and
that is reducing UK energy consumption and thus reducing carbon emissions. That’s because the Brexit-inspired reduction
in economic growth will reduce energy consumption. Indeed, the Government will
now find that the need to build new conventional power stations is much reduced
or even abolished with Brexit. The UK’s power demand has, in any case, been
going down since around 2005. Now it is set to continue to decline with slower
economic growth, or even plummet with a recession. Not only will we need less
power plant and coal and gas burning but people will not be able to afford to
heat their own homes as much. Less energy consumption means lower carbon
dioxide emissions! Another environmental winner from Brexit. See a previous post for more details http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/with-brexit-uk-may-not-need-any-more.html

But
of course there is the ‘piece de resistance’, they say, in a language now
increasingly banished from English schools. That is Brexit as a means to deter
any other country from thinking about quitting the EU! With so much economic
and political chaos in the UK, populist politicians who where thinking about
asking for referendums about EU or euro membership are now forgetting the idea
or having serious second thoughts.

So
as the UK descends into political and economic chaos, think about the gains,
the supreme sacrifice we are making in saving the EU from the English anti-green
menace....not to mention reducing carbon emissions!......

About Me

Dr David Toke is Reader in Energy Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations in the University of Aberdeen. You can see his profile at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/socsci/people/profiles/d.toke
He has been campaigning on energy issues for around 30 years, and in 1990 his book ‘Green Energy’ was an influential argument in the UK for a non-nuclear approach to dealing with global warming. He was a key player in the campaign to establish feed-in tariffs for small renewable projects in the UK, achieved in 2008. He has consistently argued that the UK's proposed nuclear power programme is not only uneconomic compared to renewable energy, but that it is undeliverable short of one or more governments signing what amounts to a 'blank cheque' to pay for the nuclear power plant. His latest book, published by Routledge is called 'Low Carbon Politics'. He has published many papers in leading political science journals on environmental, especially energy (and renewable energy) issues and he is also a frequent and well cited contributor to the journal 'Energy Policy' published by Elsevier. His twitter address is @DaveToke